Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-04-07
4 MYSTERIOUS ANIMAL.
Tie Deadly Visits ef a CSosen-Hoefed Non
derseriipt sskich IS Tsrrorisiag Our County.
From MORNING HERALD.

great wOTTiment and excitement Children
are not allowed TO go 10 school on foot OF
horseback without the company Of some
farm hand or house servant. Women keep
indoors and are even afraid TO go 10 their
spring houses alone. In the fields where
the spring blowing is now going on, men
carry their reyolvers, and no one dare 90
though the timber in that section without
taking with him q heavily loaded gun.
The general appearance Of things reminds
the older citizens of war times, when every.
body was on the lookout for danger and
little crowds Of men stood in the stores dis
cussing 'the situation"
This state of things has been brought
about by the frequent appearance in our
midst Of g strange and vicious animal
whose visits 10 the farmyards and fields of
several OF our citizens have been attended
with
SERIOUS LOSS OF STOCK,
and in some instances the strange beast so
frightened those who saw it that they were
powerless TO attack and drive IL of and
have not as yet recovered from the shock
Of their great fright. The animal has been
seen by more than dozen persons of good
standing in the community whose reputa-
ton for veracIty is good, and whose word
cannot be questioned.
From all the information your correspon-
dent can gather he has learned that this
animal is as large as yearling calf. 1t is
covered with q sort of dark wool, and on
its rump, sides and shoulders there are spots
Of white as large as an ordinary sized
breakfast plate. The wool is not short and
curly like the coat of q sheep, but hangs in
strings like wool on the pelt OF an Angora
goat. Its tail drags the ground, and is bare
Of any sort of covering, save at the end,
where there is bunch of woolly hair that
has become so hard and matted with burrs
and twigs and rotten leaves il has the ap-
pearance of solid mass of some hard sub
stance. The animal is said to have used
his tail with deadly effect on the sheep of
one of our farmers, thrashing il through
the air and beating 10 death the object OF
its anger with a single blow. Its neck is
short and thick, and It's name, also short, is
not woolly like its coat, but hairy and stiff,
like the bristles of boar. Its head is 50
large it is out of proportion with the rest OF
its body, and tufts of hair hang from the
corners of its mouth and give it ferocious
look, especially when it shows its formida-
BILE rows Of teeth, two of which are tusks
that protrude their sharp points from its
closed lips. Its eyes are prominent, and
at the base Of pair Of horns that spread
out and inward and again outward, until
they reach a length of about two feet.
One of them has been broken off near the
end and has a rough and jagged point.
The hoofs are sharp and cloven like cows.
THIS PECULIAR CREATURE
was first seen by William Mckay, who, at
present is canvaSSing this county for a
Rochester nursery and seed house Early
last Monday morning as he was driving
on the Milestown road he heard a tremen-
dous crash in the bushes about - yards in
front of his buggy, and a moment after
ward the terrible beast, leaping a high
fence sprang into the middle Of the road.
Mr.. Mckay says his mare stopped as soon
as she saw the animal and began to trem-
bic all over and shed big drops of perspira-
ton. The beast stood in the middle of the
road for more than Il minute, and Mr..
Mckay, who appears to be nervy man,
had good long look at il, and it is from
him that your correspondent gets the larg-
er part OF the description sent you. The
beast eyed Mr. Mckay's turnout, stamping
the ground all the time furiously with its
feet, whipping the air with its tail and
great rage. Finally it tossed its head
upward and, giving loud snort, wheeled
and sprang over the fence again, crashing
through the underbrush. Mr.. Mckay says
he would have given the animal a shot
but his mare became so unmanage.
able before the beast ran away, il was all
that he could do to hold her, and that
as soon as il disappeared she broke and
fairly flew down the road. Mr.. Mckay
turned her into the lane that leads e. Mr.
Peter Rankin'S house and succeeded in
stopping her at the gate.
Mr.. Rankin's family were in a state Of
| great excitement that was materially in.
creased by the hasty arrival of Mr.. Mckay
/ From the account of Mr.. Rankin i; appears
| that early in the morning when his hand
| Louis, who is Swede, went t. the stabl,
| 10 feed he heard connection in the sheep
! pen. Thinking il might be a sheep killing
/ dog, he went there in time 10 see somt
huge animal beating about among til,
sheep with its tail and kicking them witt
! its hind feet. Louis yelled out loudly, and
/ the beast jumped the fence, and running
! across a plowed field soon disappeared il
| the darkness of the early morning. The
/ Swede went back TO the house, and, Will
/ Mr.. Rankin, again visited the pen, whert
they found six sheep whose bodies haC
been crushed into a pulp. They next Wis
tied the barn, and in little shed that haC
been battered down during what mus; have
been
AGRHAT STRUGGLE
they saw the carcass of Durham bull thai
was highly valued by its owner The poor
animal was gored fearfully in its belly and
its ribs had been broken into fragments
The head was mashed in, and in its dyinG
struggles the bull had wrenched the iror
ring from his nostrils, leaving its chair
| dangling from the trough. Mr.. Rankin.
loss is considerable, as his animals are al
thoroughbred stock. Nothing more wa.
heard Of the deadly brute after his visit {,
the Rankin farm until Wednesday morn
ing, when ii jumped into the cowpen OF
the farm of Mr.. Richard Garner, neal